Chocolate Stout Chicken

My husband and I love craft beers. So I was thinking that for a nice Sunday dinner doing a craft beer take on a beer can chicken would be sort of cool. I chose chocolate stout, which came out super yummy. So here it is!

How to Make Chocolate Stout Chicken

preheat the oven to 425'F
Make room in your oven for the chicken to stand up. I suggest doing this before the oven gets hot, less likely you will burn yourself arranging things.

Clean and pat dry one 4 pound whole chicken. Reserve giblets.

Tuck the chicken wings behind the chicken's back and tie the legs in snugly. This will aid in even cooking.

Rub entire bird down with butter, both on the surface and under the skin. Rub salt, pepper and garlic powder into the bird on the surface and under the skin as well. Again apply the spice liberally to your own taste. No measuring needed.

Side note: Be careful not to tear the skin. The skin locks in the juices. Pull up slowly and carefully until the skin comes loose.

Typically a good chocolate stout either comes in a bottle or in a large can, so I suggest reserving an old coke can or beer can and funneling your stout into the can. like in this picture!

Fill your can with about 4 or 5 ounces of stout(that's about half the can). And stuff the can up the chickens butt!! (gingerly of course)

Now for the balancing act of getting the chicken in the oven! Be sure to put the chicken in a pan that can collect the juices as it cooks.

Cook the chicken for 20 minutes, then baste it. Cook it for another 15 minutes, then baste and rotate the pan 180 degrees in the oven. Cook it an additional 10 minutes to finish it off. It should temp at around 155'F to be cooked all the way through. Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before carving.

Side note: This 15 minutes is crucial to the cooking process. The bird's internal temperature will raise by 10'F to 165'F during this resting process.

While the bird is in the oven you can start on the Orange Chocolate Stout glaze.

Brown the giblets in a small sauce pan until completely cooked through. Discard giblets from the pan. (I fed it to the dogs)

De-glaze the pan with the chocolate stout.

Puree the oranges in a food processor and add it to the sauce pan and stir.

Add chicken stock and balsamic vinegar to the pan and allow the the mixture to reduce by half

Once the mixture has reduced by half add sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce to pan.

Mix flour with warm water until completely dissolved. Slowly stir water/flour mixture into the pan until the sauce thickens. Add more or less of this mixture as it is needed to get desired thickness.